Beto announces he’ll run for president.
Beto O’Rourke spent the first day of his presidential campaign driving himself from town to town in a Dodge Caravan, ducking into coffee shops and a union hall, bantering earnestly with voters and sometimes jotting notes on what they said.
The day, launched by an early morning video announcing his candidacy, was an effort to re- create the electricity of his recent run for the Senate, which made him a celebrity even as he narrowly lost. And it kicked off a test of whether the same freewheeling style can work amid the heightened pressures and scrutiny of a presidential campaign.
In this industrial river city, hundreds packed a coffee shop as the former Texas congressman hopped on a counter to call for unity. He spoke in English and Spanish, introducing himself to some who had never heard of him and many who had.
Throughout the day, O’Rourke introduced himself as “Beto from El Paso,” took questions and began collecting stories that he built into a campaign speech in the making, modifying it from stop to stop to mention those he had just met.
“I don’t think there has ever been a greater moment in our lifetimes and for this country,” O’Rourke said, maneuvering around a chandelier from his countertop perch. “The challenges have never been greater, more severe, more critical and more defining for the future.”
Less than two years ago, O’Rourke was a relatively unknown lawmaker, but his energetic challenge to Republican Sen. Ted Cruz attracted a national following.
When O’Rourke released his video Thursday morning to announced his run, it followed months of public reflection that included a solo road trip through rural America, a heart-to-heart talk with Oprah Winfrey and a rally with supporters near the southern border.
In the video, O’Rourke, 46, promised to run “a positive campaign ... to bring out the very best in every single one of us,” sticking to the upbeat tone he used in his Senate race, one that contrasts with some of his opponents’ more aggressive messages. He listed some of the perils he said face the United States.
“The challenges that we face right now — the interconnected crises in our economy, our democracy and our climate —have never been greater,” O’Rourke said. “And they will either consume us or they will afford us the greatest opportunity to unleash the genius of the United States of America.”
President Donald Trump responded to O’Rourke’s announcement by joking about his pronounced gestures.
“I think he’s got a lot of hand movement,” Trump said when asked about his newest would-be challenger. “I said, ‘Is he crazy, or is that just the way he acts?’ “
He declined to say who would make a stronger opponent, O’Rourke or former Vice President Joe Biden, who is mulling a 2020 bid. “Whoever it is, I’ll take him or her on,” Trump said.
O’Rourke’s decision added another unpredictable element to an already sprawling Democratic primary contest. The Texan has shown he can generate attention and excitement, and his candidacy may appeal to centrists in a primary whose prominent figures so far have leaned left.
But O’Rourke is untested on the national stage and brings to the race little in the way of accomplishments during his three House terms. His policy positions are also less developed that those of some of the other hopefuls.
O’Rourke said he plans to travel the country in the days ahead and will host a more official kickoff event in El Paso, Texas, on March 30. He garnered national attention in 2017 when he and Rep. Will Hurd, R-Texas, drove 1,600 miles from Texas to Washington after a winter storm grounded flights. Hundreds of thousands of people watched a Facebook video live stream of their “bipartisan road trip.”